One of the standout features of the first race of the 2026 season was Mercedes’ engine dominance, but this advantage was limited to the factory team only. McLaren, Williams, and Alpine, while showing some promising signs and similarities, still suffered a deficit compared to the W17 in both power and management of the new engine. This topic became a key discussion point after the race, with the respective team principals of Williams and McLaren taking noticeably different stances. Andrea Stella appeared more concerned by the situation than the calmer James Vowles. So, what’s happening with Mercedes’ customer teams?
Software, reliability, and finding solutions
“What Mercedes is doing with the Power Unit caught us a little by surprise,” admitted James Vowles after the race, commenting on the winning team’s performance and reflecting on his own team, which is facing challenges due in part to Williams starting the season overweight. “Mercedes is fair with its customer teams, and I’m sure we have access to everything they do. It’s just a matter of figuring out how to do certain things, and right now, we don’t know how.”
The former Brackley strategist also acknowledged a clear gap between the teams in terms of system sophistication, creating an obvious disadvantage for Williams. “It will take a few races to understand this better,” he added.
Team responsibility and infrastructure
Vowles’ position emphasizes Williams’ own responsibilities, both in infrastructure and systems and in the work done on track and by engineers. Optimizing Power Unit use is now a primary factor. The same applies to McLaren, but the Woking-based team takes a slightly different perspective. “This is the first time that, as a customer team, I feel behind even in predicting what will happen on track. In Formula 1, you normally simulate everything, but for us, it happens that we have to go on track, try, see what happens, and study how to improve things,” Andrea Stella explained.
The partnership with Mercedes continues, but Woking would like a more effective information exchange and collaboration to accelerate this learning process, which is currently holding the team back.
The role of software and Power Unit mapping
As anticipated, the main difference lies in the software of these complex Power Units, which cannot be reduced to version numbers alone but instead relate to a much higher-level usage and parameter mapping – essentially, how the Power Unit is set up and deployed. Mercedes provides the same hardware to customer teams, but usage differs, and regulations do not require them to share all details. Stella commented: “We will need further analysis to understand whether these differences are only in parameters we can control, pilot inputs, or if there are system-level factors beyond our control.” For optimal Power Unit use, this may require closer collaboration with HPP and practical on-track experience, but Grand Prix races continue to pass.
During the press conference, James Vowles explained that Williams’ analysis shows a gap of around three-tenths of a second in power alone compared to Mercedes.
Weight and ongoing improvements
Andrea Stella confirmed that McLaren has significant work ahead. There is also the issue of car weight, which Rob Marshall and his team hope to resolve for the Miami GP. However, improving Power Unit use is an absolute necessity to extract performance as quickly as possible. Like Vowles, Stella believes there is knowledge to gain and work to do. “Looking at the potential Mercedes has extracted, there is a lot we can learn working with HPP to improve. They tell us how to use the Power Unit and how the systems work, but clearly collaboration needs to be intensified because it’s obvious there is potential to be unlocked.”
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